Vanessa from A Fanciful Twist hosts an annual Mad Hatter Tea Party, and I’m super excited to be a part of it this year. After all, it’s a party, it includes tea, and it revolves around Wonderland! Who can resist?!

By the way, can you guess who plays my all time favorite Mad Hatter? No, it’s not Johnny Depp, although I do love him as an actor. My favorite Mad Hatter is played by Andrew-Lee Potts in the BBC miniseries called Alice.

But that’s neither here nor there or maybe everywhere and nowhere, but somewhere the story begins, and begin it must, of course, with a rather bored Alice listening to her older sister read from a history book…

I’m sure her eyes glazed over or perhaps her eyes crossed, but from somewhere appeared a peculiar white rabbit, with a pocket watch, singing…

I’m late, I’m late, For a very important date. No time to say “Hello, Goodbye”. I’m late, I’m late, I’m late.”

Alice couldn’t help but follow such an intriguing person, or rather, animal…I mean a talking, fully dressed rabbit in a hurry is infinitely more fascinating than a history lesson I’m sure. And follow she does, right down the rabbit hole and into Wonderland…and at some point, she comes across a gorgeously laid out tea party with an assortment of yummy goodies, and a rather crazy collection of characters.

Alice thought a tea party amongst the trees about the most perfect of places to have one…and such wonderfully strange decorations could be seen…

But the most amazing thing to behold were the guests who were nothing like what she’d ever seen before…first the Mad Hatter who played the most delightfully mad host and said the most peculiar of things…

Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea?
Alice: Well, I haven’t had any yet, so I can’t very well take more.
March Hare: Ah, you mean you can’t very well take less.
Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.”

The smartly dressed March Hare and the adorable little Dormouse were gathered around the table…

Alice: Well, it all started when I was sitting on the river bank with Dinah.
March Hare: Very interesting – Who’s Dinah?
Alice: Oh, Dinah’s my cat. You see…
Dormouse: Cat? CAT!”

Dormouse: Twinkle twinkle, little bat
How I wonder what you’re at?
Up above the world you fly
Like a tea tray in the sky.”

And then a whole host of other guests joined the delightfully odd tea party…Cheshire Cat who would never miss the opportunity to visit a party or to have a bit of fun…

Cheshire Cat: If I were looking for a white rabbit, I’d ask the Mad Hatter.
Alice: The Mad Hatter? Oh, no no no…
Cheshire Cat: Or, you could ask the March Hare, in that direction.
Alice: Oh, thank you. I think I’ll see him…
Cheshire Cat: Of course, he’s mad, too.
Alice: But I don’t want to go among mad people.
Cheshire Cat: Oh, you can’t help that. Most everyone’s mad here. You may have noticed that I’m not all there myself.”

The Tweedles: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, who might actually make the most sense after all, wandered into the gathering…

Tweedle Dum: If you think we’re waxworks, you ought to pay, you know.
Tweedle Dee: Contrariwise, if you think we’re alive you ought to speak to us.
Tweedle Dum, Tweedle Dee: That’s logic.”

Even royalty paid a visit to the Mad Hatter Tea Party…both the Queen of Hearts and the White Queen…

Of course the Queen of Hearts had something to say about the picture taking…

Queen of Hearts: [after the Queen of Hearts is hit in the head and covered in the table cloth] Someone’s head IS GOING TO ROLL FOR THIS!”

But since the card soldiers were oddly absent, she soon settled down. Even the Walrus managed to keep his head long enough to take a photo with her…

And we definitely can’t forget the darling and fluffy little Pink Flamingo who simply had to sample some goodies, too…

Everyone had a wonderful time although Alice couldn’t decide if she should get bigger or smaller…

Alice: Curiosity often leads to trouble.”

Oh what fun this all has been! I am already planning next year’s Mad Hatter Tea Party! And I have a whole year to get ready for it. Here are some final photos of everyone all dolled up.

I had to take some with my rather stunning daughters…

And of course with my husband, the March Hare…

It’s a good thing Alice feels this way…

Alice: If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”

Because I totally put the clock on the wrong side of my face! It was correct when looking in the mirror. So in the spirit of everything nonsense and contrary-wise…the clock goes counter clockwise in Wonderland. And I love the cool mirror shot the Cheshire Cat caught of me, the White Rabbit.

Some of the features you’ll find with the Trident Case include a hard outer shell, a shock absorbent inner silicone lining, built in screen protector, protection for both device controls and ports, and enhanced audio ability. The back of the case has a spot where you can add accessories (purchased separately) with a twist-and-lock functionality.

How I Used It

I put the case on my iPad Mini. No, seriously, it’s that simple as far as how to get it on. The silicone liner fits into the back of the case, your device sits into the silicone, and then you snap the front of the case on. You do want to make sure the silicone buttons and plugs fit through the hard case properly. It only took about a minute to fit it all together.

At first, I couldn’t snap the case around the volume control because it kept sending the volume down to mute whenever I did. I left it cracked open right at the volume control, and it seemed to work itself out within a day or two. It’s completely snapped closed now, and my volume works fine. That has been the only issue I had at first (and since).

What I Thought

I had recently purchased a new cover which I LOVED (has a cover and a magnetic strap closure). So I wasn’t sure how I’d feel switching to this one. I also wasn’t sure about not having something to close over the front. I cringed because it seemed so unprotected and vulnerable. Until I put it on. The screen protector is hard enough to feel like it’s safe to leave laying around. I will say, I think you should be careful to not scratch the screen protector with something sharp or metal. That being said, I don’t think it would scratch easily in day to day use assuming you are fairly careful with your gadgets. I can’t bring myself to drop it to check for durability, but between the hard outer shell, and the silicone inner lining, it seems like it would take some beating rather well.

I love that the ports and controls are protected. I don’t have to worry about anything getting in there. I also love that the case funnels the sound from the back to the front of the case. With other cases, we would use our hand cupped around the speakers to help amplify them. Having the sound coming out of the front is a wonderful feature, and offers better sound quality.

So where does that leave me? I now have two cases I love. Sigh. Seriously, I’ll be keeping this one on for a while because I love the color (hot pink), love the enhanced audio, and love the durable, strong case. And I had no idea how much I would love having the screen protector. I recommend this cover, but know that you may have to fiddle with the case a little to get it to hit the controls properly when you first put it on.

♥ Thanks for sharing ♥

Heather is on the TOS Review Crew with me, and when she asked if anyone wanted to help promote her husband’s etsy store, I had to take a peek. As soon as I saw his hand forged goodies, I was all in. So let me introduce you to a new etsy store, NV Able Items, and its owner, Noah…

The Blacksmith

Meet Noah.

“I live in Virginia on a small farmish piece of land with my wife and children. We are trying to live completely off this piece of God’s creation. So we live here, grow our food here, teach our children here and now work here. The Items we create here are aesthetically pleasing and intentionally useful. A picture is nice but it is even better when it covers a hole in your wall. I enjoy reworking things considered worthless, making them beautiful and useful again!”

~ Noah V.

NV Able Items

Noah creates all of his beautiful creations by hand, in his shop, located in Southwestern Virginia. Blacksmithing has always been a passion of his. Developing work from discarded materials continue to provide him with new challenges and a sense of adventure.

Whether it’s a knife made from an old railroad spike, or a rustic spoon from old rebar, Noah delights in making something beautiful, creative and useful, from old materials!

Custom orders are welcome at NV Able items! If you have a need in mind, Noah is willing to help you design or create whatever you may need. The possibilities are endless!

Noah is continuing to develop new items, creations and designs. If you would like to be notified when NEW ITEMS ARE ADDED to his shop, please enter your email below! Emails are only sent out occasionally and your email address will not be sold, traded or used for any other purpose.

Receive Updates from NV Able Items

* indicates required

Email Address *

Email Format

html

text

GIVEAWAY TIME!

In honor of the opening of his new Etsy shop, NV Able Items, Noah is giving away a beautiful coat rack with 3 hand forged hooks and brackets on reclaimed wood from a rustic Virginian barn.

Who Am I?

Recent Posts

I was hoping to wake early and get this posted, but alas, I am still not sleeping well thanks to this poison oak rash. Hopefully it will go away soon. We are sorting through kids toys and belongings, going through no longer used curriculum and … [Read More...]

I actually started this post early Monday morning, but then left for my doctor's appointment (poison oak woes), took my son out to another town to drop paperwork off, had lunch with him, and dropped him at work, came home, discovered my other son … [Read More...]

One of my closest and dearest friends, Sarah Coller from Classical Homemaking, has inspired me in so many ways as a women of God, wife, mom, and homemaker. So when she announced she had self-published a book called Now: Purposeful Steps Toward a More … [Read More...]